A session led by Dr. Karen at the ASEP teachers' workshop brought the conversation back to something examinations cannot measure: the wellbeing of the young mothers who sit in ASEP classrooms every day.
Teenage mothers returning to school carry more than books. Many face stigma from peers and neighbours, the weight of household responsibilities, and health needs that are rarely discussed in staff rooms. For them, staying in school depends as much on support outside the classroom as on what happens inside it.
More Than a Return to School
ASEP was designed with that reality in mind. Alongside formal education, learners receive psychosocial support and childcare solutions, so that motherhood and schooling do not have to compete. The session reminded teachers that their classrooms are part of a wider circle of care — and that a girl who feels safe and supported learns faster and sits examinations with confidence.
Teachers were also equipped to play a first-line support role: noticing when a learner is struggling, creating classrooms free of judgement, and connecting girls to health services for sexual and reproductive health, maternal care and mental wellbeing — areas central to YAPO's health programming across its projects.
What Teachers Took Home
Participants left the session with practical strategies: flexible support for learners who miss school for clinic days, partnerships with parents and community leaders to reduce stigma, and simple routines that let young mothers know their presence in school is valued, not tolerated.
The workshop's message was clear: for teenage mothers, education with dignity is not a slogan but a support system, and wellbeing is its foundation. A learner who is well is a learner who can dream beyond the next examination.
